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President's visit to TUT highly successful, says Presidency

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Pretoria – The Presidency says it is regrettable that the public was not given the true picture of President Jacob Zuma’s visit to the Tshwane University of Technology, in Soshanguve, by some sections of the media.

“Some sections of the media regrettably gave an incorrect picture of the visit to Soshanguve and elevated to prominence, the ill-disciplined behaviour of less than 10 people out of a crowd of more than 5000,” the Presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Presidency said President Zuma undertook a highly successful visit to Soshanguve and the Tshwane University of Technology.

The visit was part of the Presidential Siyahlola Monitoring Programme to assess the effectiveness of government’s interventions aimed at supporting youth to acquire higher and post-school education and skills.

Thousands of students and community members turned up to receive and listen to the President, following complaints that had been received about living conditions in the residences, taverns that surround the campus and the security situation on campus, among other things.

A student was killed last year on campus and earlier this year students held a protest regarding student financial aid which delayed the academic year.

President Zuma on Tuesday said many of the concerns raised had received attention and had further assigned the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to follow up on the undertakings made during the visit.

“I am encouraged by the response of the students which indicates that our message that education is the apex priority for the country has been received far and wide in the country.

“We have discovered a positive problem at TUT, the problem of an oversupply of students leading to inadequate accommodation. We are happy that young people are hungry for education in our country in this manner and we are challenged as government to respond to this challenge positively,” said President Zuma. – SAnews.gov.za

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